NEW APPLE OS!
macOS Big Sur: the story so far
Highs, lows, and everything in between
EDITED BY ROB MEAD-GREEN
A side from the excitement of Apple revealing the first M1 Macs at its One More Thing event in November, there was other big news: the launch of macOS Big Sur. Apple’s latest Mac operating system is one of the biggest updates the Mac has received in years, with a complete redesign and many new features making it a real sea change.
Like almost everything Apple does these days, Big Sur is tightly integrated with the Mac hardware. Apple’s software chief Craig Federighi explained, during the One More Thing keynote, that this has enabled the new Macs to instantly wake from sleep and launch apps much faster. The improvements brought by the new chips combine with optimisations in Big Sur for a zippier experience overall.
Apple also touched on how the M1’s unified memory architecture (UMA) gives apps greater access to the graphical and computational power in Big Sur. Instead of copying data between separate pools of memory, apps can now draw from a single source, meaning fewer delays and more efficiency.
But you do not need a shiny new M1 Mac to appreciate the benefits brought by Big Sur. The visual overhaul brings a softer appearance – rounded corners here, more use of white space there. Gone are the silvery app title bars and opaque menu bar, replaced with a simpler and more polished look.